Wild Life Ranch-African Safari, Texas Style!

The second part of our vacation post is our first experience at the Wild Life Ranch where we got to encounter/touch many amazing animals! We were very excited to get to go see this area and the animals that grazed it! It was such an awesome experience and we can hardly wait to go back. I'm sure Camdyn could have stayed there all day! I just know she is going to be a veterinarian one day :)

As you drive through the ranch you come upon different types of animals and this is not a very clear picture but here were the giraffes...I would have loved to have their head in our cars but I'm sure since they are so tall, the park had to contain them in a fenced area.

With a handful of food she is ready to feed her some animals!!

Hmmm...not sure what he was.

The zebras were pretty much what we were looking the most forward to!

And this guy was the most entertainment! He would walk around strutting his stuff like he owned the whole place. He would go up to each car and stick his head inside of it and peck around for food. He would also grab the whole bag of food from people...We never opened our window for him because he was a bit too aggressive for this family! ha!

Here was our first encounter with the sweet zebras. They would calmly wait on us to give them food and they were just so gentle. I love Camdyn's face in this picture.

I had to put this on here! I was a bit scared when he stuck his head on my side to eat...something about those big teeth coming towards me! ha!

I was fine the second time!

He was pretty interesting to look at as well

Afterwards we headed to the petting area where Camdyn got to pet/hug and play with the baby goats-she called them "sheep" the whole time.

We also about died when we caught her laying a big kiss on the goat's back!

Camdyn Reece had a great little vacation and we cannot wait to go back next Summer!

Mini Vacation, First stop-San Antonio!

Hello there! It's pretty much a miracle that I am on here right now because our house has been torn upside down but we are finally starting to see a normal house again! We recently got our wood floors laid in the new playroom and also in our bedroom. It is beautiful!! It's amazing how flooring can change up the look of a room. With that said, we decided to redo our bedroom as well just because the floors gave it a whole new appeal. It's summer and that makes me that much braver so I got a new bedspread and guess what color it is...WHITE! Yep, I'm a brave one :) I am one who likes to have things done quick but I'm going to take my time on our bedroom and rush the play room! I will hopefully post pictures of the "house make-over" after I am caught up with my blogging scrapbook for C.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mini Vacation! Every summer Dustin and I like to go somewhere simple with just us three and then we do a larger vacation with his family in July. This year we chose to keep the drive pretty close (I guess 5 hours is close??) and we went to San Antonio and stayed on the river walk. This was one of the most relaxed trips we have been on since Camdyn was born and I'm sure part of that is because she is either growing up or becoming more familiar with traveling/vacationing away from home. Either way...she was a delight to be with and it was a blast to spend every waking hour with her. I am splitting this post into two for the sake of the blog book. Too many pictures on one posting ruins all of the details-writing that goes with it and that's my soul purpose for blogging! So look forward to our next posting on the wild life caverns that we experienced and all of the African animals!

We pretty much went day by day for what we wanted to do and every lunch/dinner was spent on the river. It's so enjoyable to just sit out on it and watch the ton of ducks swim...Camdyn loves ducks. Here is a little recap of your vacation Camdyn Reece!

We drove 4 hours straight before we even stopped and we were very proud of you. AND you did not sleep the entire time so either Elmo or mommy kept you very entertained :) Our first stop was the huge outlet mall that I will definitely be making a trip back to...precious items for you and lots of sales! We didn't stay long because we were ready to check into Hotel Contessa but we were sure to make another trip on our way home! We got to the room, freshened up and headed out to dinner at a yummy Mexican food place on the river. We stopped to take some sweet pictures outside of our hotel.

Afterwards we got tickets to do the boat tour on the river at night. However, we did not know that our boat would arrive over an hour later. Standing in line with a two year old scared me to death but with her spunky personality she put on a show for everyone and was free entertainment for them. We then got on the boat and she sat like this pretty much the entire time. LOVE HER!

As our tour guide gave us all of the interesting details about the history of the river walk, Camdyn would shout "oh wow" like she was paying attention to each thing that he was saying :)

In the mornings she would wake up and watch her favorite dvd and eat a muffin on the bed. It was so much fun waking up with her each morning...

The next day we ate lunch at the Rain forest Cafe. If you ever get a chance to eat at the one on the river...you will be amazed! It was unbelievably decorated from head to toe with amazing life-like animals and huge butterflies that would flap their wings. This is another reason we will be going back each Summer!

These details were everywhere and the restaurant was 3 stories...sadly (since it's close) it put Grapevine Mills RF to shame!

They sat us right next to the massive fish aquarium and Camdyn was loving this...

This poor poor guy was Dustin's entertainment. Dustin could not get over how much he looked like a dog. You should have seen those teeth!
I took all of these on the other side of the aquarium and I love how it looks like sister is in there with the "fishies"!

The next night we once again went out on the town for dinner and ice-cream and Dustin got Camdyn this light up ring. I wish you could see it in the picture...very diva-ish!

On our last night this little guy sat underneath Camdyn's chair and she fed him the entire dinner. I'm sure all of the other ducks were very envious that he got to eat tortillas AND tiny bites of chips. She was good at keeping them small.

The next morning we went to some little shops down from our hotel



Here is the beautiful view from our room. Many people get married (we saw one couple while we were there) on this area because it is supposed to be good luck.

The rest of our trip was spent at the swimming pool, the caverns and the outlet mall. The pool was on top of our hotel and we made a point to swim up there when the sun was starting to go down...wish I would have gotten a picture of that. One of my most fondest memories of our trip was letting her lay on my chest while she slept before I would go to sleep. She never sleeps in our bed at home so I took advantage of holding her before we would "transport" her into her own bed. She was a sweaty little pig an hour later when I took her off of me but it was pure heaven. What is it about a precious sleeping child...I guess it's the innocence behind it.

That sums up most of our vacation in a nutshell. What a fabulous vacation it was!

We love you daddy!

Daddy, I only had 20 seconds (because mommies flip camera was filled to the max with me) to tell you how much I love you on Father's day. You are by far the best daddy in the world. God created the most loving, gentle, caring father that is absolutely perfect for me. Thank you for giving me and mommy the world.

We celebrated Father's Day early this year due to our busy schedule from just getting back from our mini vacation to San Antonio. Dustin has worked so hard all year to provide for his family so as a reward I wanted him to have a day of relaxation and a bit of time spent together with just him and I. I first worked super hard creating a scavenger hunt for him throughout the house. I used to do these with my sisters when I was little and I loved them. I took a few snapshots of him doing the actual scavenger hunt. I think he really enjoyed it :) I had about 12 different places for him to go and then at some of the "stops" I would reveal a detail for what we were doing that weekend. Here are some pictures of my love! (side note: he just got through working out so he is a bit sweaty! ha!)Each part of the hunt had a hint just about him and Camdyn and he was really good at figuring them all out.

*This is where her and I hide from him when he comes home. He had no problem figuring out this clue!

To sum it all up, we ended up leaving that day around noon, staying down the street (he has been wanting to stay here)

laying out all day, got dressed and headed to our favorite restaurant- Culpepper's Steak House, sat by the lake, came back to the hotel and sat out on the terrace forever and just enjoyed each other's company while listening to the band down below, and slept as late as we wanted the next morning. We talked and talked about how much we loved our little get- away and I think he was very pleased with his gift.

Today we will be celebrating Father's Day at our house with both of our dads. They too are the most loving father's who are very special to us and mean the world to us and Camdyn. G-Dad and Poppy, we love you!! (Love how Camdyn has named them both!)

Potty Training and Summer!

UPDATE: Today we are doing great on the potty training...woo hoo!!

Hello there! We have made it through our first week of Summer and it has sure been filled with fun and relaxation-minus the potty training!

Let's start off with this subject-OPERATION POTTY TRAINING! The switch from bottles to a sippy cup was a breeze-happened with the first try, learning to walk was a breeze, started at 8 months but this is not a breeze! It's very unfamiliar for her and it breaks my heart to see how scared she is of actually completing this task (you guys she has gotten good at holding it as long as possible!). We had one great day where every time she made it the potty with a little coaching.. We have been full force panties or nothing at all and it's coming a long slowly but surely. I'm sure she will look back on this blog and laugh at the issues that we tried to conquer! She is definitely a little girl who thinks about every detail and wanting to keep her potty clean (yep, wants nothing in her potty!) but I think this will pass and we will have this potty stuff successfully completed by the end of summer -hopefully before! :)

These are pictures from the day we started and the enjoyment of decorating her potty

And we have spent most of our mornings doing this...She will sit there forever if I would let her until she gets the urge and she is off like a rocket!

Sleeping late, warm sun shining through the window, spending time with my family every minute of the day, pool time, lighting summery candles, etc. has made me cook up a storm!! Most of the time it has been from Pioneer Woman's cooking index! I want to make a special breakfast for us at least once or twice a week and I made Monkey bread on Tuesday...Here's the recipe! Tasted just like it looks!

On Thursday, I made fried catfish and fried green tomatoes from our garden! Have you had these? They are delish! All you need is some Zataran's fish fry seasoning and some oil and there you go!

Camdyn has been such a hard worker at all of this potty training junk so I made her a healthy little snack after her dinner the other night that I got from one of my Parenting magazines. She loved these chocolate covered bananas!

I was getting C's bath water ready the other night and walked out of the room to get her lotion and I heard a little innocent splash and laughter following it.

Here is my little girl snuggling up to her silk sheets that I was about to put on her bed!

At night after Camdyn goes to bed, I have been spending my time looking for ideas for the playroom! This is a blast and I LOVE decorating. We have the walls painted and now we are just waiting on the floors to get finished and obviously all of the small details.
Here is part of the room (Dustin painted the walls yellow and they will look great with the brown floor and our window)

I have been wanting to make a lot of the stuff for the playroom (it saves us money and it is more meaningful to me) so I made this canvas the other day and it is my most favorite thing! I stare at it all the time. The special thing about this is that it has Camdyn's precious hand print as the tree branches.

Camdyn has also loved helping Daddy get rid of the painters tape. It is so easy to keep a two year old busy!!

And last is what Camdyn is so good at now...puzzles!

Today we leave for Dustin's early Father's Day surprise day/night of fun! It's just the two of us :) I'll update you closer to Father's day with the details!